1
as in hopeless
not capable of being cured or reformed
an irretrievable drug addict who had wasted a once-promising life
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in irreparable
not capable of being repaired, regained, or undone
this is just an irretrievable mess, so let's start all over again
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of irretrievable
Alcaraz broke the Italian twice, winning the set with an incredible backhand flick from what looked like an irretrievable position and cupping his ear.
—
Tim Ellis, Forbes.com, 13 July 2025
There is a genuinely irretrievable, ephemeral, low-res version of the movie.
—Rachel Handler, Vulture, 17 May 2025
Lawmakers warn that evidence critical to future war crimes investigations may be irretrievable.
—Josh Hammer, Newsweek, 20 Mar. 2025
And there was data that was lost, that was irretrievable.
—Wesley Stenzel, EW.com, 2 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for irretrievable
Tim Ellis, Forbes.com, 13 July 2025
There is a genuinely irretrievable, ephemeral, low-res version of the movie.
—Rachel Handler, Vulture, 17 May 2025
Lawmakers warn that evidence critical to future war crimes investigations may be irretrievable.
—Josh Hammer, Newsweek, 20 Mar. 2025
And there was data that was lost, that was irretrievable.
—Wesley Stenzel, EW.com, 2 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for irretrievable
Recent Examples of Synonyms for irretrievable
Adjective
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From what looked like a hopeless position just a few weeks ago, the subscribers are now off the bottom of the table and gearing up for a potential title challenge.—
Oliver Kay,
New York Times,
30 Jan. 2026
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And if the hypotheticals are not enough to dissuade, history is littered with teams trading away their future for immediate glories, seeing their plans implode, and being left with a ruinous future that becomes a hopeless present while another team reaps the benefits.—
Joseph Dycus,
Mercury News,
30 Jan. 2026
Adjective
-
Rattling off the potential for irreparable harm, the attorney said that demobilizing the project and then restarting it would significantly delay the overall timeline of the critical infrastructure project, or even torpedo the whole thing.—
Molly Crane-Newman,
New York Daily News,
6 Feb. 2026
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With import‑export activities stalled, especially in the garment sector, the country faces irreparable damage.—
Glenn Taylor,
Sourcing Journal,
5 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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In the psychological horror story, ambitious young psychiatrist Parker attempts to make a name for himself by treating Josephine Todd (Berry), the famously incurable patient at his hospital.—
Nellie Andreeva,
Deadline,
27 Jan. 2026
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Among them included a young girl who was diagnosed with a deadly and incurable glioblastoma at only 9 years old.—
Isabella Backman,
Hartford Courant,
27 Jan. 2026
Adjective
-
Fire in all its forms, literal and figurative and symbolic—the consuming ardor of desire, the irreversible incinerations of loss, the flaming swords of Genesis—is the central subject of Kelly Hoffer’s second collection Fire Series.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
2 Feb. 2026
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One party makes large, irreversible investments in a relationship, and the other party can then extract additional concessions because walking away is too costly.—
Spencer Harrison,
New York Times,
1 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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Broadly speaking, this is probably not irrecoverable damage to the ecosystem.—
Joan Meiners,
AZCentral.com,
19 July 2025
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Aviation experts have said a preliminary report from India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) raised questions over whether one of the pilots of Air India flight 171 cut off fuel to the Boeing 787's engines seconds after takeoff, leading to an irrecoverable situation.—
Dan Catchpole,
USA Today,
18 July 2025
Adjective
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This leads to what may be a unrecoverable confession from Emma that adds tension to the lead-up to their nuptials.—
Dessi Gomez,
Deadline,
3 Feb. 2026
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Time is scarce and unrecoverable, unlike money.—
Brian Page,
CNBC,
26 Dec. 2025
Adjective
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Many of the country’s top psychiatric groups warn that there is no empirical standard for determining whether a mental-health condition is irremediable.—
Elizabeth Bruenig,
The Atlantic,
4 Feb. 2026
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The cases in Blair’s book, however gruesome, catalogue methods that our species has used to manage terror, sorrow, and disbelief in the face of the irremediable and unpredictable arrival of death.—
Rivka Galchen,
New Yorker,
7 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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But the Coop had one thing that failed cooperatives didn’t: Joe Holtz, a gregarious 22-year-old from Sheepshead Bay with a mind for numbers and an incorrigible idealism.—
The Editors,
Curbed,
15 Dec. 2025
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Mary Roy, too, married to flee violence—her father, a civil servant under the British, beat his wife and whipped his children—only to find that her husband was an incorrigible drunk.—
Rebecca Mead,
New Yorker,
3 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Irretrievable.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/irretrievable. Accessed 10 Feb. 2026.
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